Concert – Page 39 – Concert Katie

Vegas Trip: Recycled Percussion

Katie November 7, 2013 0 Comments

While in Vegas, we went to see Recycled Percussion 4 times. I’ve been debating if I wanted to do 4 separate posts or just one big one and decided on one big one. I get asked a lot if the show is different every night – and while the basic idea of the show is the same, with audience participation you never really know what you’re going to get. They were also switching out band members through the week which made for even more differences in the show. (And one night we were waiting for pictures and this guy came up and said “Is there like a rotating green member? It was the old guy and now it’s you and the other night it was a black guy…” Made for some laughs and we’re all pretty much cracking up in the picture too from right after that.) One night we did Hanson shirt night and then the next night we ended up getting Justin to mention Hanson while on stage.

For those of you who have never been to a show – while you’re waiting in line there are bins of “junk” and you get to pick what one you want to play during the show. Each item has a spray painted color on it – green, red, black or blue and that is the “team” you are on for the night. With going to 4 shows, we were able to be on a different team each night.

Each night there is also an older woman who gets chosen to throw drumsticks to Justin. One of the nights the lady didn’t want to throw them and instead walked up on stage to hand them to him. Hilarious. You never know what you’re getting with audience participation.

There is also a time when about 8 people go on stage for “Training Zoo” and that is always hilarious because sometimes you get some real hams up on stage. And sometimes you get people dressed as pirates who put their eye patch over their monkey mask…

My favorite part and I don’t know why is when Justin does the funny voices with the mic. I’m not sure what it is – and he basically says the same thing every night, but I will crack up EVERY time.

There is also the van part which I love, that they couldn’t do at the shows in NH. The show from NH to NV is much different. Matt and Justin had asked me how I liked the Vegas show compared to New Hampshire and I said it was “way better” and they laughed. There is just so much more they can do with the show in Vegas since they are there every night versus traveling from venue to venue for a week in New Hampshire.

Some photos below… Recycled Percussion… The worst show I’ve seen 7 times 😉

Boyz II Men Concert Travel

Vegas Trip: Boyz II Men

Katie November 5, 2013 0 Comments

Friday night we up Tickets 4 Tonight for Boyz II Men and Chippendales tickets. Then spent 2 hours going to Rio and back to pick up the Chippendales tickets and arrived at the Terry Fator theater juuust (and I mean just!) as the show was starting. Whew! Although I had seen Boyz II Men 4 times this year I wasn’t sure what to expect for their full show where they were headlining! We were told earlier in the week shows run about 90 minutes but it depends on how chatty they were – and they were VERY chatty, and very funny. They’ve now been a band 22 years and did pretty much all their singles, a medley of Motown hits, some other great acapella numbers in 4 part harmony (thanks to ‘extra guy’) as well as a song that they “stole” from the Beatles (Yesterday). They also talked about how 15 or 16 years ago an ‘old guy’ pitched a song to them that was sure to be #1 and they didn’t think so and said to give it to another group. In 6 weeks it went to #1 for the other group! The song? Amazed. They sang it for us. The end of the show had most of the biggest hits and during I’ll Make Love To You a lot of ladies rushed to the stage in hopes of getting a rose! I didn’t keep track of a setlist but I tried to piece one together with the help of YouTube. Everyone seemed to be recording the whole dang show!

Beautiful Women
Muzak
On Bended Knee
So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
Amazed

(Motown Medley)
My Girl
Just My Imagination
The Tracks Of My Tears
It’s The Same Old Song
Reach Out (I’ll Be There)

In The Still Of The Night
I Do
Yesterday
Water Runs Dry
I’ll Make Love To You
A Song For Mama
End of the Road
Motownphilly

Concert The Wanted

The Wanted at Foxwoods

Katie October 26, 2013 0 Comments

Friday night The Wanted brought their fall tour to Foxwoods. Getting tickets to this one was a lot of fun. And I’m being sarcastic, kind of. First, there was a presale. While Foxwoods emails me passwords for every OTHER presale they do at this venue, for some reason I never got one for The Wanted. Then rather than tweet the password out to EVERYONE, they replied to only a few girls tweets and by the time I found that – all the decent seats were gone. There were only a handful in the lower orchestra to begin with. Then the public sale was when I was in PA for Mixtape Festival so Maribeth got recruited to help me and once again – NOTHING in the orchestra. I ended up going to Foxwoods website (they sell tickets themselves AND sell them through ticketmaster – it’s crazy) and was able to find a seat in the orchestra on the side but on the aisle closest to the center. I figured if someone better came up I’d sell it and buy another one – and then dummy me had it put at Will Call instead of print at home. (It’s the scrapbooker in me)

A couple of weeks later my friends gave me a heads up that there was 5th row on ticketmaster now and while I was debating buying a second ticket, 4th row popped up so I snagged it. Then I had to take a trip to Foxwoods to pick up the Will Call ticket after selling it on StubHub. (Whew. At least I wasn’t stuck with it.) I also ended up winning 2 tix but no one wanted them sooo… I am thinking a ticket scrapbook header is in my future. Ive never wanted to cut up my own tickets before but since these are extra…

All that effort absolutely ended up being worth it because I was the closest I had ever been at the venue! We were off to the side, but the guys are really good about going to the far ends so it was perfect.

Midnight Red opened up the night after their tour with Austin Mahone got canceled. They did I think 4 original songs and a few covers which included Rihanna’s Diamond, Bruno Mars Treasure and an acapella version of Boyz II Men. AND they dance. They are no NSYNC, but a dancing boyband has been missing from my life. I think the girls were really into them too – that or they were being murdered – based on the screams.

Then it was time for The Wanted! Their band took the stage and played the intro music and one by one they appeared on the stage for All Time Low. The shows was pretty much constant high energy and I didn’t sit down once – which is probably why today I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. (Totally worth it though) Nath was completely cracking me up the whole time when he was over by our side, kind of having miming conversations with the crowd while he wasn’t singing. He’s adorable.

For Heart Vacancy each guy gets a girl up on stage with him… well, usually. Except last night Jay had a large and tattooed man that would absolutely HILARIOUS. (He didn’t get to pick for himself) We met him after the show and he said that he was a friend of the drummers and when Jay hugged him he said “Please don’t kill me” and then he told him that he was Tucker’s friend and he was glad about that. We were also told Jay smelled wonderful. haha. It was seriously the best heart vacancy… person, probably ever.

They did a new song that Max wrote called Could This Be Love (although the setlist says Could This Me Love?), their Killers medley was back that they did in August… Warzone that they did not due in August was in the setlist again…

And the encore was We Own The Night and Glad You Came – where they allowed the first 5 rows to run up front but no one else which was kind of nice. Although I didn’t go up there, which was kind of neat because then I was kind of the only one left and got lots of eye contact!

After the show they had a stack of setlists to give out, and I ended up with one from one of the security guards pockets, I think, because it’s all folded up. We couldn’t find any spot where they might be doing pics or autographs (there’s really no spots at these casinos and it stinks because the venues are nice!) even though we did a few laps of the casino and stopped at the pay with mobile slots section before retreating to the low stakes poker tables. Oh well, I have VIP for April 🙂

Casey James Concert Meet and Greet

Casey James at the Wolf’s Den

Katie October 14, 2013 0 Comments

Saturday night Casey James returned to the Wolf’s Den. Mohegan Sun had a giveaway for 4 reserved seats for the show (normally first come first serve) and a signed poster. At first someone else had won but then Mohegan contacted me and said that the winner had declined the prize and that I was the next in line to win! I obviously accepted the prize and was told that the poster needed to be picked up at the hotel concierge. When I arrived I figured that I would grab the poster, roll it up and carry it with me to the show. Except that when I picked it up… it was a LOT bigger than I was expecting (not that it was a bad thing!) and it was on posterboard so I couldn’t roll it. It was one of the ads for Casey’s signing the last time he was at the casino last year that they hang up around the casino to promote it. Very cool!

I dropped it off at the car and waited for my friends to arrive and we headed inside. We were one of the last tables in the back which gave us a nice view of the stage. He said that he was working on a new album and hoped it would be out soon and that he was kind of growing tired of the old stuff – not in bad way but he was just looking forward to adding some new material into his sets and giving us something new to listen to! He also kept teasing that we were asleep because the clapping and cheering was minimal at times. But he got us doing a call and response and trying to beat out one side versus the other. In the end, I think it was a tie 😉

He played just over an hour set and then said that he’d be signing and doing pics at merch which I was excited about. I’d met Casey before but never got a photo with him! (Last year at the casino I couldn’t stay for his signing) It seemed like it took FOREVER for him to come out (it probably was only 10 minutes) and he chatted signed and took pics with whoever waited. We were near the front of the line, but it was pretty long when I had looked back to see how many people were behind us! He was nothing but sweet and asked if I had seen him before because he recognized my face. I was surprised because it was a while ago when I had last met him – but he did tell me at that time I was the first person who told him I had pre-ordered his CD, so I guess I was memorable!

I’m not sure how accurate this setlist is w/ the new song titles (I guessed, mostly) but here goes nothing:

She’s Money
Let’s Don’t Call It a Night
Nothing Like You
The Good Life
Get On The Roll
Woman’s Touch
So Sweet
Workin On It
Cover – So High
Too Sweet For Me
Cryin’ On A Suitcase
Need Your Love So Bad
Get Over It
Drive

Concert Hanson Paul McDonald Travel

Vegas Trip: Hanson at Fremont Country Club

Katie October 11, 2013 0 Comments

We took the bus to Fremont Street and got to the venue about 30 minutes after the doors and were escorted to a side entrance. We went by the soundbooth and I could see even seated for most of the show, but had to stand for my current favorite song, Juliet. I even got a new song to add to my list performed that night – Happy Together! And zac’s solo was Broken Angel which is another one of my favorites and a nice surprise.

I also got to see my friends Natalie and Krystal that I don’t get to see that often, so that was great! During the show Zac mentioned Boyz II Men and said that they had their own show that night and they couldn’t make it to the Hanson show, but he had us record a Vine for Shawn saying that we missed him.

The show ended at 10 and we went back to Fremont Street to check things out. At 11 we saw the Fremont St Experience show which was on the ceiling to songs by The Doors.

Then we hopped the bus back to our hotel on the strip and crashed.

Fired Up
Ive Got Soul
Wheres The Love
Scream and Be Free
This Time Around
Minute Without You
In The City

On and On
Strong Enough To Break
Being Me (I solo)
Broken Angel (Z solo)
Save Me (T solo)

Juliet
Crazy Beautiful
Happy Together
Waiting For This
Watch Over Me
You Cant Stop Us
Tragic Symphony
Thinking Bout Somethin
MMMBop
Get The Girl Back
If Only

Something Going Round

Concert The Wanted Travel

Vegas Trip: iHeartRadio Village Concert

Katie October 9, 2013 0 Comments

Saturday morning we got up and rented a wheelchair for the day because we weren’t quite sure what to expect at the iHeart Radio village show. We went to the bus stop but grew too impatient to wait and ended up walking (rolling) the entire strip to “The Lot”. We had missed a DJ and 21 Pilots but made it in time for DJ Jayceeoh’s first set.

We walked around and got some free stuff at the booths and went to the ADA platform to check out Cher Lloyd’s set. She was joined for It’s All Good w/ Ne-Yo. Then we saw The Band Perry, Pete Tong, Miley Cyrus (girls gone crazy), AWOL Nation, Avril Lavigne, Krewella, another DJ and then it was finally time for The Wanted – the reason I was there. They were introduced by surprise guest Danity Kane who sang some of Damaged acapella before The Wanted took the stage. The guys looked like they were having a TON of fun on stage!

After their set I tried to get more free stuff and got Britney’s new fragrance and a Walgreens gift card as well as some Macys TShirts. They were adding transfers to the shirts but we got cut off from the line so we went to the back of the tent where they were just giving the shirts with no prints on them off. (They said “iHeart” and you could pick “Vegas” and other words to add to your shirt)

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, assess my sunburn and get ready to go see Hanson!

Some of the songs I remember from the sets:

Miley:
We Can’t Stop
Party in the USA
What Are They Doing To My Songs
Wrecking Ball

The Wanted:
Chasing the Sun
All Time Low
Walks Like Rihanna
I Found You
We Own the Night
Glad You Came

Concert Hanson Meet and Greet Photos

(Another) Crazy Hanson Weekend

Katie September 5, 2013 0 Comments

Typically I write one post per concert, but I also have a “rule” to try to write about one show before the next one happens. And I failed miserably at that this weekend. In my defense, I was all over the east coast “touring” with Hanson. Our weekend kicked off on Friday when I stayed up waiting for Maribeth to get in from PA. She took the train up because our last show was back in PA so we didn’t want to both have to drive down there following each other. But her train hit something and she had to switch and ended up being delayed an hour.

Saturday morning we headed up to Boston. We knew it would be crazy because there was a Red Sox game right across the street at basically the same time, but what we didn’t realize is that it was ALSO move in weekend for Boston University! Crazy! We took the T in so I didn’t have to drive in Boston and that worked out well. We stopped to eat at Bertucci’s and were asked if we were moving in – I guess we looked like we were still in college? I’ll take it! When it was time for doors we were escorted to the 3rd floor for ADA seating and had basically the same seats we had for the last time Hanson played there which was awesome! (Not awesome was before the encore the woman working there said “It’s the end of the night I need to take the chairs back” and so I had to stand for the encore. Why are you taking chairs away from handicapped people who asked for them for what I’m assuming was good reason? So strange.)

Highlights from the Boston show… Each of the guys did a solo (LOVE when they do this because you often hear songs you would not otherwise hear and it’s just them out there on stage alone) and after Zac left and Taylor took the stage, Taylor talked about how great Zac was and how he could play a bunch of instruments and was the youngest Grammy nom for song writing and he performed at the Grammys when he was 11 and it was really sweet. Not sure what provoked it, but I’ll take it. There were a few songs we were hoping to hear but didn’t, and a few we were hoping to not hear, but did. Our only hope was also that they’d mix the setlist up for the next 2 nights and we’d hear what we wanted the next couple of nights.

Sunday morning we headed to NJ to pick up our friend Marisa and were off to Long Island. We had intended on going to do The Walk with Hanson (I was going to work the table and they would walk) but unfortunately we didn’t time things right and were pulling up in to a parking spot just as the guys and the walk were walking by. We went to get dinner and then got ready to get in line for the show. We had Loge seats but when we got in line they told us we could find the elevator to the right and the staff member operating it said we could go to the ADA section which was “really close to the stage”, when we said we had seats he still encouraged us to go to the ADA section and we were basically 2nd row Isaac’s side. What an amazing ADA section!

Highlights of this show… are that they played almost every song that we were wanting after the Boston show. Do they have us bugged? Also, before Isaac’s solo he was going on and on about the walks and how people talked to him about not having a solo song and he really was talking for quite a while. Zac ended up coming on stage and pointed to his wrist and told him to hurry it up. Ha. Then at one point, Taylor turned to Zac and mouthed something that I couldn’t make out and then it seemed like they all started playing Tragic Symphony (another we wanted to hear) and then everything stopped and Zac said Taylor said something to him but he didn’t really know what. I guess they were going to skip Tragic Symphony and do Thinking Bout Somethin instead but they all weren’t clued in to that! It was neat to see because I feel like that is something that doesn’t usually happen – but it made them seem more real.

We checked out the bus situation afterwards but it didn’t seem promising so we headed home to get some sleep before the trek to PA on Monday.

Monday we made it to the Sands Bethlehem in time for the walk. Marisa and Maribeth were going take it while I hung out and did who knows what, but last second we grabbed the wheelchair and had Maribeth push me. Everyone walked SO fast there would have been no way I could have done it without help! We walked around the old steel mills which was really cool and I am pretty sure I took more photos of the surroundings than of Hanson. For each person who did the walk $1 would be donated to the Take the Walk campaign. I chose to have my $1 go towards clean water. Also, for each ticket sold on the tour, $1 would go to the campaign as well.

Doors were supposed to be at 5, but they started letting people in at 4. We ended up waiting in the lobby for a while and then went to the ADA seating area. I debated going up closer (the place was not very packed at all) but ultimately stayed in the back the whole time. At this show, Zac’s solo was Call Out My Name which we had been discussing just that morning and hoped it would be a solo. (Really, am I bugged?) Isaac did For Your Love for the 3rd time in 3 nights – but honestly I think I’d rather hear that than a lot of his other songs he’s done as solo in the past. Taylor did Kiss Me When You Come Home which was a pleasant surprise. They also ended up doing Tragic Symphony for real at this show (only the 2nd time I’ve heard it live!)

After the show we snagged a spot by the bus, Zac came out first but apparently my camera got messed up during the walk and said “recording” instead of taking a photo even though it wasn’t on video mode. He said he’d come back once I fixed it. He got like 5 ppl down and we called out to him but he kept going. We had hoped he’d loop back after he did the whole line to get us, but must’ve forgotten and we weren’t able to catch his attention. Isaac also came out and by that point everything was fixed so we did get pictures with him. He told us Taylor would not be coming out that he was “very tired” Fortunately they had the next day off so hopefully they can rest up and be good to go for the next run of shows!

I won’t be seeing them until Vegas in a couple of weeks – but I am hoping they add some covers in by then. Isaac said we can expect the show to be very different by November when we do another weekend of shows.

Concert Meet and Greet Photos The Wanted

The Wanted at Sands Bethlehem Event Center

Katie August 27, 2013 0 Comments

Saturday night my friend Shea and I made the trek down to PA to see The Wanted. Shea and I have known each other since we were 6 and she calls me her “oldest friend”, but the last time we went to a concert together was LFO when we were in high school! She recently decided she liked The Wanted after watching their show on E! and I obviously love all boybands so we figured it would be a fun trip and I’d also get to case the place out for when I go see Hanson there next week.

When we arrived, we had no idea where to park and ended up going in through the casino and then walking through to the event center where the line was INSANE. We talked to the box office about ADA seating and got that all squared away and the woman at the box office recommended we grab a bite to eat rather than standing in the huge line since our seats would be saved. So we headed to the food court and grabbed a bite to eat and by the time we got back the line was much, much smaller.

There was a DJ on for a while playing the same old crap. Then he said he had 5 more minutes left so we got super excited that The Wanted would be out next – but they ended up coming out like half an hour after that! Their set was a bit different than when I had seen them last year (actually, exactly a year ago!) due to the new singles they’ve released and all that – but they still have so, so much fun on stage that you can’t help but feed off their energy and then they must feed off the crowd too and it’s just so fun!!

We sang at the top of our lungs and probably made the whole rest of our section annoyed, but we had such a blast! Shea had said that since I meet everyone, I had to take her to meet The Wanted and I had warned her that I’d do what I could but I’m not a magician. We grabbed a spot at the barricade near the buses and I told her that this would be our best shot. She thought I was nuts at first and a couple times we made a “if they don’t come out we will leave at this time” pact – that we didn’t stick to.

All 5 guys ended up coming out and we ended up getting photos with all 5 of them and chatting with them for a bit. Getting pics was kind of a pain with such tight quarters – which meant the flash was too close to my face and I blinked in a couple of photos… but whatever. (And my pic with Jay came out great and we were hoping for pics with just ONE of them so the fact that we got all 5 was just ridiculously amazing)

We left about midnight and went back around to get the car and then Shea said she’d pull around to see how we can get to that lot so we can park closer next week for Hanson and Siva and Nathan were STILL out there signing, trying to make sure that everyone who waited got something. They were so gracious and sweet and Shea was asking if I thought it was an act or not but I truly think they are just so happy that people come out to see them and that they get to tour everywhere!!

We drove back home after and got home about 2:30am but it was beyond worth it!

Invincible
Lose My Mind
Lightning
Walks Like Rihanna
Heart Vacancy
Radio
The Killers Medley
Gold Forever
Chasing The Sun
I Found You
All Time Low
We Own The Night
Glad You Came

American Idol Concert Photos

American Idols Live 2013!

Katie August 24, 2013 0 Comments

I didn’t think that I would be seeing the Idol tour this year – and was a bit disappointed in myself that I hadn’t won any tickets. I had debated going to the Mohegan Sun show because tickets were cheap but ultimately decided against it. Earlier in the week the Webster Bank Arena had tweeted that Star 99.9 was doing a twitter giveaway for tickets. I was too late for the first giveaway of the day, but of course won the second! When I picked up the tickets I looked at the seating chart backwards and thought that the seats were in the back – which was fine because I would be there and for free and that was what mattered. Turns out I was looking at the seating chart backwards and they were actually the section right by the stage (where I try to buy my tickets) and about 8 rows up. Not bad at all!

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but things got kicked off a little late. The show opened with the girls singing Little Mix’s “Wings”, it started out just 4 of them but then Kree and Candice joined them. It was nice to see Kree and Candice out before the intermission – I always hate when they hide them until the end!

Aubrey was up next – for those of you who don’t remember her she was the one that got voted on the tour with the sing off. She did “Sweet Dreams” and had some of the girls on background vocals. (They have long since done away with backup singers and just use the other Idols now.) I feel like Aubrey was on stage the most out of everyone. She always seemed to be there in the background.

Then 3 of the boys came out and did Justin Timberlak’s Suit and Tie – Curtis, Burnell and Devin. Paul came out and did Carrie Underwoods Blown Away and then did Summer Nights and was joined by Janelle and Kree. (The country crew)

Curtis did When I was Your Man but was way on the other side of the stage for the whole song which stunk. (As did the lighting to get any pics of it) Amber had center stage next and did We Found Love and The Way.

Then, half an hour into the show, FINALLY, Lazaro made an appearance. (I was kind of surprised and did check my watch!) They all did Locked Out Of Heaven. Then Devin came from and center and talked a little bit about how all the others thought his speech was boring so he switched it up. He also mentioned he hadn’t been to Connecticut before and we were crazy. Except for the fact that they had a show in CT just last week 😉 He did his English/Spanish song about things being Impossible.

Then the non-top 2 girls came out and did Blurred Lines. I was kind of surprised it was the girls who sang this, but it was fun. (Although “everybody get up” didn’t go over well. In fact, no one really got up at all except to give Candice a standing O after her set.)

Burnell came out and was on my side of the stage (to balance out Curtis earlier I guess) and did Everybody Knows.

Then for the final song of Act 1 they did We Are Young / Live While We’re Young mashup.

After a brief intermission it was time for Angie who did a set of Mamma Knows Best, and 2 original songs You Set Me Free and Put It On Me.

Janelle did her country songs – Better Dig Two and Where The Blacktop Ends.

Then it was time for Lazaro! Hooray! He did Feeling Good and The Edge of Glory and a couple times shouted out “How you doing Bridgeport!” (Or something similar) and an “I can’t hear you!”

Kree was up next and did Up To The Mountain, Hold on and then her single All Cried Out.

Then our latest Idol, Candice, took the stage and did End of Time, I Am Beautiful (her coronation song, which I love the message of) and her new single The Middle which was very catchy! And then Lovesong.

Then it was time for the last mashup of the night – which started with NSYNC’s Gone. And I didn’t even recognize it. While I am obviously desperately in need of an NSYNC reunion – there was just no excuse for that. They went in to Kelly’s Since U Been Gone (ugh. So sick of this song from years back) and then When I’m Gone – aka the Cups song which Aubrey and Angie played the cups for… and then of course – my favorite (if you can’t tell, major sarcasm) Gone, Gone, Gone from Phillip Phillips.

I thought in years past then they each had come out to take a bow, but the lights went back on and that was that!

Overall, a fun show and if you have the chance to check it out – do it. Especially if you can get free or super cheap tix on Stub Hub the day of 😉

John Mayer at the Comcast Theater August 16

Katie August 18, 2013 0 Comments

Mayer is Back!!! For those of you not in the know – John had to take some time off because he had a granuloma on his vocal chord that needed to be dealt with. When he thought that he was ready to come back he scheduled a tour (to which I had tickets for 2 dates) and then had to cancel it because he was still having trouble and had to have more surgery. There were no guarantees that he would come back from the surgery so the fact that he has been doing this tour and has a new album coming out on the 20th is amazing news.

I was beyond excited for this show. I had been looking forward to it for months. But I tried not to hype it up too much because there was always a chance that he wasn’t going to be the same. I had checked out some setlists and picked out some songs that I was hoping I’d hear based on what he seemed to be playing (a good mix though, it seemed) and he did do just about all that I was hoping for. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Opening for the evening was American Idol winner Phillip Phillips. Now, normally I am beyond excited to see Idol contestants but I am *so over* Phillip Phillips. I’m glad he’s doing well but his songs are just so, so overplayed. His first song – I don’t know what it was, but it surely sounded like Dave Matthews to me. Then he did Gone second which I guess was cool. Get it out of the way early. When I was just about to tweet that I was still over him, he did a pretty cool cover of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. He ended the set with what seemed like a 10 minute rendition of Home. I loooved that song so much at first. Then Top 40 radio got their hands on it. Overall he seemed to have small pockets of the crowd incredibly entertained and dancing and like other Idol winners in the past, he has cornered the cougar market quite well for himself.

Then it was FINALLY time for John! Behind the band were these HUGE rocks. The sheet covering them was getting all hung up on it when the roadies were trying to take it off. John kicked off the evening with Queen of California – and he was back! He sounded just about the same to me and of course there was no difference in his playing. He went into a cover of Lay Down Sally next and then Paper Doll – which was followed up by Half of My Heart which I thought was interesting since he did Half of My Heart with Taylor Swift and Paper Doll is supposedly about her. Was that some sort of secret clue? Or am I reading too far into things? ha.

There was a definite mixture throughout the rest of the show and at times he completely seemed to lose EVERYONE. Usually I am the only one sitting to take a break but 3-4 times throughout the night I sat and then everyone in front of me did too and I could still see perfectly from my seat. Great for me, kind of weird for John I guess though. I got super excited about 2 notes in when I realized he was playing Vultures. He followed that up with an acoustic set where everything was black behind him and he did Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’. Then he said he’d do songs from signs and did 83 (or I think he said he’d do as much of it as he could, which was the majority of the song) and then he went in to Your Body is a Wonderland! I know he doesn’t do this one all the time but obviously I was very much looking forward to that one.

After they came back – it looked like the rocks were gone. I asked my friend and she said no they were real but I thought they now looked fake. Then they zoomed out on the screen so I guess they snuck the rocks out while we weren’t paying attention during the acoustic set. Waiting on the Day was a new song that he did based on a sign that a kid a couple rows in front of me was holding up. The kid was super, super excited about that. During Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad I got excited because “my car” was in the video montage of the highway for a couple of seconds!

For the encore he came back and did Gravity – which was another that I absolutely wanted to hear. He ended up playing I think roughly 9:15 to 11:45. I obviously could have stayed there all night, but you know he has a whole rest of the tour to do 😉 At the end they had “credits” for the production which was pretty neat with who did what for the tour.

Then the lights came on and another exciting night had come and gone. The only thing I will say I miss was that he seemed to cut back a bit on his joking/banter. When he did talk, it was a lot of thank you for sticking around which was to be expected. And to be honest I didn’t even realize that it was “missing” until we listened to the recording of the show that we went to in 2010 and started comparing. I’m not holding it against him at all but I figured it was worth noting.

Also worth noting – if you come to a concert and are proclaiming yourself “a huge John Mayer fan” PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not talk throughout his whole set defending WHY you are a huge fan and what CDs of his you have and what songs you want him to play. This conversation is much better left for in between the opener and John or on the ride to the show or before the show even started or hell, even on the way home you can discuss what you wanted to hear and didn’t. But not during John and so loudly that it is all the people around you will hear. I understand you also called yourself a huge douchebag – but you didn’t also need to prove WHY. We get that you’re a John fan because if not, well, you probably wouldn’t be at the show. So hush up and take it all in.